I am delighted with my latest 3D print of a caiman alligator skull. This is a model of a Yacare caiman alligator skull created from a CT scan of an actual skull measuring 35 cm (14 inches) in length. The skull is 5.6 cm long and 3 cm wide (2.25 inches by 1.2 inches). The Yacare caiman is a species of caiman found in central South America.

I have waited decades to be able to create something like this. Years ago, I was able to cast a few natural objects such as a pine cone or an insect body in silver using the lost wax technique, but this combination of CT scan and 3D printing technology opens up a whole new world of creating replicas of nature's beautiful and intricate creations.

Thanks for the compliment! But the beauty is in the natural object itself. Just look at all the incredible sculptural detail on the actual skull. Unfortunately a lot of that detail is lost in the 3D print. (I may have smoothed the CT scan data. I will have to look it over again and perhaps upload another version.)

As for your suggestion of adding a loop, check out the attached pictures! The natural openings in the skull provide a perfect way to string a lanyard for making a necklace. I just threaded the string through the openings in the skull and tied a simple adjustable knot. I did not want to add a loop to mar the beauty of the skull. (But if you really wanted a version with a loop I could do it!)

Hi Natalia:
Yes, I think this 3D printing technology is incredible. I am a biologist by profession, and have been fascinated by Nature's incredible patterns and designs ever since I was a kid. Over the years, I have been able to "capture" some of this beauty in bronze lost wax castings, of things such as the fetal pig and white-breasted nuthatch. But my opportunities for bronze castings are very limited, unless I decide to spend $100s of dollars on a project. CT scanning and 3D printing is one way of creating sculptures of natural objects. I suspect that in the not-to-distant future, 3D scanning will be an affordable way for me to build up a collection of 3D prints in steel or silver. For me, there is something very satisfying about having a bronzed sculpture of a beautiful natural object.

Instead of 3D scanning or CT scanning, have you looked into 123D catch? It's a free software that uses images to create a 3D model. They also have an iOS app, unfortunately no Droid app yet. For higher detail you could also use our silver. Yes more expensive, but higher detail. If you'd like other cast metals, be sure to let us know!

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me. -Maya Angelou
michael@shapeways.com Community Advocate

Just wanted to thank you for pointing out 123D Catch as an alternative to other ways of obtaining a printable model from natural objects. I used the online version of 123D Catch to create a model from a monkey skull that I have scanned using CT. It worked out fairly well, although plenty of detail was lost. Attached are some photos to let you compare the various technologies. There is a photo of the actual skull, a rendering of the CT scan, a cleaned version of the CT scan that took many, many hours to fix, and finally two renderings of the 123D Catch obj file.

There are only the three attachments in my previous message because I combined the different views into single images. The first (whitish) image is the actual monkey skull. The second image (red) shows the rendering of the CT scan data next to the repaired CT scan. The third image (yellowish) shows a rendering of the 123D Catch model that I made from 67 overlapping photos of the actual skull.

I am an emergency room doctor in my other life, so I have friends that will occasionally shoot a CT scan for me. I would be happy to share the CT scan data with anyone who would like to play with it. CT scans are stored in a file format called DICOM. You can open DICOM files with various programs. I use a free software package called OSIRIX. You can get it here:

www.osirix-viewer.com/

Within the program you can export an .OBJ file of the data you are manipulating. I took a CT scan of my entire body, so if I wanted to I could make a silver 3D Shapeways print of my heart, kidney or skull! Wow, wouldn't that be fun. LOL.

The problem with the CT scan data that I have for the monkey and black bear is that it is not high resolution. A friend has spent many, many hours using z-brush software techniques to clean up the models. If anyone out there listening knows how to do such things, and would like to work on any of these models, I would be happy to collaborate by providing you with the CT scans in return for having you share your results with me and others who are interested. The caiman alligator skull that I printed at Shapeways did not need any repairing since the bones were so dense that the CT file worked fine.

Not sure what is going on with your problem downloading the 3 images. As you can see from the attached screenshot, lots of people have been downloading the pictures. And you can also see them in the message without downloading them. The CT scan render of the monkey is the file called "MonkeyBeforeAfter.jpg" Scroll up to message labelled "Follow up - 123D Catch Fri, 09 November 2012 16:54 UTC" and you should be able to download the 3 jpeg files.

Just wanted to let folks know that someone recently ordered a print of the alligator. I assume it it someone who has been participating in this discussion. Unfortunately Shapeways Service says that the skull could not be printed even in Frosted Ultra Detail because of thin areas on the model. I knew that there were thin areas on the model, and tried to fix them with MeshLab. Apparently I still missed a few areas. The original model that I printed in Stainless steel also had these thin areas but printed fine.

If anyone wants to download the model I have online, they are welcome to do so. I will change the settings to allow downloads. However, I really would appreciate it, if you would also share the model if you work on it, so that others could benefit from your work.

I can't view the CT monkey scan either. I suspect my clicking on it also generated a download even tho all I saw was the dreaded red X. The other two images were fine. Viewed in Internet Explorer 8 running under Windows Enterprise.

Scott, I use ZBrush and would be willing to download the free programme you mentioned for viewing and exporting scan files. If you would like to send me a scan I could work on it and be willing to share whatever luck I have. Please send me a PM if you're interested.